Worrals Goes East/plot
Chapter I: Assignment in Syria Air Commodore Raymond sends Worrals and Frecks are sent on a special assignment to Syria. In Intelligence Headquarters at Aleppo, they meet Major Kenton, one of the foremost experts on Middle-eastern affairs. He has a difficult and dangerous case for them. The enemy has been using women as couriers to move propaganda leaflets in order to spread rumours and forment unrest. A copy of a British aircraft, a Heron, had crashed into a mountainside. The pilot, found dead, was a women of unknown nationality but dressed as an Arab. Also on board was a large quantity of printing paper. The sensitivities attached to women in the local culture make it impossible for men to conduct investigations. Worrals and Frecks can, however, move among the women freely. Kenton sets Worrals and Frecks up with covers as French convent girls and gives them a one of his men, Nimrud, as a guide. Chapter II: Nimrud, The Mighty Hunter Kenton has arranged accomodation at a low profile hotel run by a Greek named Stampoulous. With dark local capes to cover their uniforms, Worrals and Frecks follow Nimrud by various sidestreets to the hotel. Along the way, Worrals notices a hook-nosed Arab. After settling down in their room, Worrals starts her investigation by looking at the air crash. She sends Nimrud to fetch the intelligence report on the crashed aircraft as well as the belongings and clothes of the dead woman pilot. Chapter III: Post-Mortem By studying the report, Worrals concludes from the fuel remaining in the aircraft that the pilot expected to land and refuel within a hundred miles southeast of where it crashed. The dead pilot wore European undergarments but had Arab style clothes which had been hand sewn with an unusual Hungarian stitch. Moreover, it had a strange scent, which Nimrud tells them is ladanum, a perfume of Persian origin but common in Turkey. Also, although the woman appeared to have taken pains not to have anything which might identify her, she was wearing a gold necklace with a black pebble. Partway through their discussion, Worrals notices a French officer peering through the window from the common balcony. She advances and challenges him: he apologises, he had only just arrived and didn't know this room was occupied. This shows they have to trust no one, Worrals warns Frecks. Anyone can get a French uniform. Besides, she has the impression the hook-nosed Arab she saw earlier had followed them. She can see him just outside their window on the opposite side of the street. Chapter IV: Plot and Counterplot Towards evening, Worrals, Frecks and Nimrud step out for a stroll. Worrals tells Nimrud she is certain they are being followed by the hooked-nosed Arab and they lay a trap for him. Under Nimrud's stern questioning, the man, a Zogorite, confesses that his chief had ordered him to recover the necklace with the black stone. Nimrud wants to kill him but Worrals lets him go. The necklace seems to be important. So Worrals asks Kenton to spread a rumour that a girl who had lost her memory had been found in the mountains north of Aleppo wearing the necklace. Worrals would move into a hospital posing as the girl with Frecks as nurse. There they would wait for the enemy to make his move. Back at the hotel the girls have a narrow escape: their is a horned viper under the bedsheets! They suspect the French officer but Stampoulos tells them he had checked out. Chapter V: The Charming Doctor Bronfield At the hospital, Worrals is surprised when one Dr Carlson Bronfield enters without knocking. Kenton had told Worrals about him: an eminent American archaeologist and an expert on local Arab affairs. Kenton had consulted him about the political situation and how to deal with the enemy propaganda problem. Bronfield seems affable enough. He excuses his intrusion, saying he is trying to visit the wife of one of his staff but she had apparently been discharged. He notices Worrals' necklace and offers a large sum of money to buy it but Worrals does not sell. After Bronfield leaves, a nurse brings a box of candy in, supposedly a gift from Major Kenton. Both girls are about sample some when in a moment of caution, Worrals throws a piece to a stray dog on the street. The dog dies. The candies are poisoned! Worrals manages to stop Frecks from swallowing one in the nick of time. Worrals notices the hooked-nosed Arab on the street and they decide to stage their deaths for his benefit. As expected, he steals into the room searching for the necklace but is scared away by the arrival of a nurse. Chapter VI: Worrals Asks Some Questions At Intelligence HQ, Worrals asks Kenton some pointed questions about Dr Bronfield. Kenton is sceptical and puzzled. He insists Bronfield is entirely reliable. But Worrals tells him about the two attempts on their lives. Chapter VII: Frecks Gets the Answers Worrals sums up her suspicions for Frecks. Bronfield is at least lying about visiting the wife of a staff member. The lady had been discharged earlier and Bronfield had come to collect her--this much Worrals learnt from the hospital matron. Second, when the hooked-nose Zogorite entered the room, he made straight for the dressing table to look for the necklace. Only Bronfield had seen the necklace there. What's more, Bronfield's handkerchief had a whiff of ladanum. Everything points to Bronfield playing a big part in the racket. However, from reference books, Worrals learns that Bronfield and his two daughters are genuine archaeologists with many discoveries and publications, not the sort of people to dabble in political intrigue. Therefore Worrals speculates that the enemy might have gotten rid of the real Bronfield and replaced him with an impostor. Chapter VIII: The Warehouse in the Souk Major Kenton had told the girls that Bronfield kept his archaeological artefacts in a warehouse in the Grazi souk so Worrals decides to investigate the place. They manage to steal into the warehouse through a trapdoor in the roof but have to hide when the caretaker, Mashuk enters with his wife. Mashuk notices his crates had been opened. He summons some Zogorite henchmen and together they corner and then execute a thief whom they find hiding in the warehouse. After another wait, another several women enter, all dressed in Arab garb. One women who appears to be in charge, cuts open a packing crate, takes bundles of leaflets out and distributes them, with payment in silver, to five other women who then depart on camels. From the roof, Worrals observes that two of the camels head out on the road to Latakia, while three more head on the road to Hama. Chapter IX: Strictly Feminine Kenton had told the girls that Bronfield had an archaeological dig at Wadi Omar, forty miles away. The next morning, Worrals and Frecks are getting ready to do a reconnaissance flight there when Major Kenton shows up. Worrals tells him about the warehouse and shows him a sample of the leaflets. He is distraught. The message in the leaflet was just the sort that would inflame the population. But at the same time, the authorites can hardly stop and search Arab women--it would inflame the population as well. It is up to Worrals and Frecks. The Arabs would not mind if the female couriers are stopped and searched by women. Worrals and Frecks take off and locate the first caravan on the Latakia road where they intercept the caravan and removes the leaflet from the women riding in the palaquins. They take off again and repeat the operation on the Hama road. This time one of the Zogorite men tries to attack and Worrals is forced to shoot him. A car drives by and stops. Sheikh Azza bin Shibla steps out and offers to help but Worrals tells him that what had happened must remain strictly a matter between women. The Sheikh understands and agrees but advises that the Zogorites would not live down their ridicule and would seek revenge. The Sheikh offers the girls the protection of his tribe. Chapter X: Desert Flight The girls continue their reconnaissance of Wadi Omar but Worrals limits herself to overflying it and snapping air photos. She continues towards Baghdad where they speak to Professor Silas Blake, another eminent American archaeologist who Kenton had told them knew Bronfield well. Blake also vouches for Bronfield but adds he hasn't seen him for three years. To Worrals' puzzlement, he says he has been reading Bronfeld's monthly reports and they carried his unmistakable signature. Worrals shows Blake a photo of the dead woman pilot. It's not one of Bronfeld's daughters, Blake says. It is a woman assistant of one Brunowsky, a Hungarian racketeer and enemy of Bronfield. Brunowsky had once been thrown out of Persia when Bronfeld reported him for stealing antiquities. The mention of Hungary piques Worrals' interest--the Hungarian style stitches! As for the necklace, Blake recognises it as a Persian artefact which Brunowski had stolen. Chapter XI: Sortie to Wadi Omar A study of the air photos of Wadi Omar there is no landing area in the rough terrain. Worrals does notice something unusual: a group of palms in the centre of a grove at the oasis seemed to be shorter than the others. Worrals decides investigate Wadi Omar from the ground and so they head out and land at a sandy wadi four miles north--the nearest suitable landing group. Approaching Wadi Omar, they are surprised to see the camp busy with activity although it is late at night. Soon all becomes clear. The shorter palms are portable and men are pushing them aside and setting lamps to create a runway! An aircraft is approaching! Worrals sends Frecks back to their plane to go and notify Kenton and get help. Meanwhile she herself would steal into the enemy camp to disable their aircraft so that the British forces arrive, the evidence will all be there. Chapter XII: In the Enemy Camp The aircraft, another Heron, lands and two men step out. One is named Berthold, obviously senior to everyone else, and the other, Otto Voss, the new pilot for the operation. They are greeted by the man Kenton thought was Bronfield but now revealed as Brunowski. Worrals is close enough to overhear their discussion and learns a few important points. First, Brunowski had indeed tried to kill Worrals and Frecks. He thought he had succeeded but now knows they are still alive and he expects they would come to Wadi Omar. Two, the real Bronfield and his daughters are still alive. Brunowski has been using threats on the daughters to force Bronfield to sign the exacavation's monthly reports to trick the authorities. Third, the necklace is actually a passport which allows the pilots flying the route to land and get help from any axis unit along the way. Brunowski must retrieve the stone somehow. Brunowsky brings the visitors to his tent to talk further and asks his assistant Hylda to refuel the aircraft. Worrals notices with a start that Hylda seems to have the figure of the French officer who had been eavesdropping on them at the hotel. After Hylda finishes, Worrals creeps to the aircraft and begins to drain the main tank. She doesn't have time to drain the gravity tank as Voss and Berthold soon return. The two men take off and Worrals listens intently and hears the engine of the aircraft cut out. Chapter XIII: In the Footsteps of the Past Worrals sees Hylda carrying a bundle of paper into a cave and follows her. Peering into a chamber off the main passage, she sees Hylda at work with a printing press. Further down the passage, there is a larger chamber with a locked wooden door against one wall. Worrals has to hide when she hears Brunowsky and Sheikh Mirza Ali are approaching. They enter the chamber, remove a key from the wall and unlock the door. Inside are the real Dr Bronfield and his daughters. Brunowsky has come to force the doctor to sign the next monthly report. After Brunowsky and Ali leave, Worrals takes the key and enters. She has little time to announce herself to the prisoners--there is a commotion outside and peering out, she sees trouble. Chapter XIV: Frecks Has a Tough Time The story rolls back to Frecks. She makes her way to the parked Heron and then sends Nimrud back to Wadi Omar to support Worrals. Soon she regrets not asking him to stay as she spots three Zogorites at the aircraft--and they look like the three men they had stopped on the Hama road. Seizing a moment when the men are distracted, Frecks makes a run for the aircraft and succeeds in started up and taxying, throwing off some of the men who were clinging to the tail. She makes her take off run but then sees another aircraft gliding towards her. Frecks is not to know, but it's Berthold and Voss--they have finally discovered their main tank has been drained and need to land at the nearest convenient spot. Frecks swerves to avoid the other plane. The violent motion causes the undercarriage of her plane to collapse and she hastily evacuates the crash and is promptly captured by Voss and Berthold. They fly her back to Wadi Omar. Brunowsky tells Hylda to torture Frecks for information about Worrals' location. The sadistic Sheikh Ali wants to come along to watch. Hylda puts Frecks' hands in the printing press and threatens to crush them unless she talks. Fortunately, Worrals has seen all this. She sneaks into the printing room and holds Hylda and the Sheikh up. The Sheikh tries to resist and gets shot. Worrals releases Frecks and they bring Hylda, tied up, to the Bronfield cell. Chapter XV: Fresh Plans Before long, Brunowsky arrives to look in on Hylda and they capture him as well. Worrals makes fresh plans. There is still a little fuel in the gravity tank of the Heron. Frecks must make a break for the aircraft to fetch help while the rest cover her with guns. This plan almost succeeds but the Zogorite workmen see Frecks and converge on the plane--too many to be held off with their guns. But just as all seemed lost, a submachine gun clatters out, bringing down and scattering the Zogorites. It's Nimrud, covering them from above at a tomb in the cliff wall. Frecks gets away. Worrals and the others climb up the steps to the tomb and prepare to hold off the enemies until Frecks comes back. But then Worrals hears the engine of the Heron stop. It appears that Frecks is out of fuel. Chapter XVI: The Battle of Wadi Omar Worrals, Nimrud and the others make a last stand at the tomb. They succeed in holding off the Zogorites who charge up the stairs but soon their ammunition is all but exhausted. There is little more they can do but then Sheikh Azza and his warriors turn up, forcing the Zogorites to beat a hasty retreat. Worrals spots Brunowsky, Berthold and Voss attempting to escape on horses. She grabs a rifle and asks Nimrud to shoot down Brunowsky, which he manages to do. The other two Germans are captured by Sheikh Azza. Frecks comes back with Major Kenton. Sheikh Azza's time arrival is explained. Frecks had spotted his camp shortly after take off and had landed to get his help. She had then flown on to Aleppo. Category:Plot summaries